The 2002 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service

RESPONSE of  Hilario Davide, Jr.
Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 2002, Manila, Philippines

Your Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; former President Aquino; Senator Magsaysay; Chairman Zobel de Ayala; and the Trustees and officers of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation; Mr. Heintz of Rockefeller Brothers Fund; my fellow awardees; my colleagues in the Supreme Court; fellow public servants; and guests:

I am honored to accept from the Foundation the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service for the year 2002. I accept this award less for myself, and more for the millions of other public servants in Asia who toil selflessly for their fellowmen and their country to make Asia “a better plance”, without contemplation of a reward. I hope it will inspire them to persevere with their dedication, and encourage others to emulate them.

The fate of a nation hinges on every action taken by each public servant. The Philippine Constitution declares that a public office is a public trust and requires all public servants to serve with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency. This means unqualified sacrifice and a commitment to give only the best. Government service is therefore a life of selfless oblation.
   
By God’s grace I had been guided by two dedicated public servants – Papa and Mama – who served the people as educators, perhaps the noblest of all modes of public service. They brought me up in the countryside, upon earth that demanded much labor. Ours was a very difficult life; and in the midst of difficulties, we in the family loved each other even more and learned to work, give and share, and aspire for nobler things. That upbringing has served me well as a public servant.

It has been a tremendous privilege for me to serve the people in various capacities in the past, and now through the Judiciary. The responsibility was not a choice I pursued, but one that I was nevertheless honored to assume. Thus, I have welcomed every public duty with passion for excellence and a commitment to apply only the best of my abilities to it. The people deserve nothing less.

Words are not enough to express my appreciation and gratitude to the Foundation and its officers and trustees for this award. This is doubtless the most profound honor I have received. Yet it imposes an equally profound duty: to do more for the people, above and beyond the call of duty with boundless devotion and love. In this way I would also perpetuate the memory of the man in whose honor the award is named after – President Ramon Magsaysay – whose 95th birthday anniversary we celebrate today, and whose family I now greet.

May I also take this opportunity to thank the men and women whom I have been blessed to work with – my fellow Justices and magistrates in the Judiciary, all court personnel and civil servants whose labors made mine a little less burdensome.

I thank my beloved wife, Gigi, and the members of my family, who have shared with me the costs and consequences of government service, and for which sacrifice they returned only encouragement and inspiration no sum can measure. I thank my parents, who instilled in me the values and principles I have lived to make me worthy of the award.

Lastly, I offer this honor to God, in tribute for all the blessings He has showered on me and my family, through times trying and otherwise. To Him, indeed, belongs the glory.

More power to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.

Thank you.